


Watching Over Them

by Morbane



Category: The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.
Genre: Alternate Universe - Westworld Fusion, Constructive Criticism Welcome, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 10:59:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16117019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morbane/pseuds/Morbane
Summary: Brisco is right to believe in a bright future, full of amazing ideas, close enough to touch.Close - but just on the other side of the glass.[Westworld remix of 'The Orb Scholar'.]





	Watching Over Them

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DesertScribe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertScribe/gifts).



Kelly preferred the late-night shift in this part of the park.

Mostly, Brisco and his friends - or enemies - travelled by day and slept by night. But the guests were usually well-rested enough to keep a scene going, or make trouble, into the night, and when direct eyes on the scene were preferred, he would take squinting at a dark tableau any day over trying to task the aerial or the field cameras as the hosts galloped through the terrain.

Tonight was plenty exciting already. A guest on his own was reprising the role of the Orb Scholar. It didn't attract many because there was a scripted element to the guests' own interactions. They had foreknowledge of some of the events they and Brisco would encounter, but it took a skilled and flexible mindset to make the best use of that knowledge. This host was doing all right. Earlier, he had complained at Brisco when the host had freed him from robbers - Brisco obviously didn't know that they were corrupt deputies, and the guest had forgotten to play along - but his current biometric signs indicated he was engaged and excited, caught up in the story.

Brisco's vital signs were a different story.

In an encounter with a host programmed as John Bly, Brisco's enemy, Brisco had been "shot"; the damage would be easy to repair once the host was recalled, but for now, Brisco's pain settings were dialled realistically up, and Kelly was paying dutiful attention to his ongoing physical trauma.

Kelly had seen versions of this scene over and over, but he always liked the way it drew Brisco together with Bowler, who at this stage of his story had only a rivalry with him. Kelly checked his notes; yes, the guest had indicated an interest in seeing the romantic version of Brisco's and Bowler's relationship. Good choice, but at the moment, slightly a pity. He was a few buildings away dramatically freeing himself from Bly's captivity, and didn't get to see what Kelly was now seeing: Bowler cradling Brisco's head in his lap, Brisco's desperate gaze up at Bowler as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

Ah; there, the guest was on the move. Kelly felt a little twinge of satisfaction at the tableau he walked in on. This wasn't a high-violence corner of the park, but it had plenty of drama to offer.

The biggest draw of playing the Orb Scholar, probably, was what the guest got to do now: dispense magic, via simple park technology, through his Orb prop. Kelly watched intently, and set the nanites to repairing Brisco when the guest commanded the "Orb's power". Working remotely, without pausing the scene, he couldn't fully reverse the physical effects, but again, it was late at night - the guest was likely to want to turn in after this scene was concluded. Brisco's host only had to endure another hour or so.

As he'd thought, once the guest had given Brisco a non-explanation about the Orb (most guests stayed vague rather than invent something detailed on the fly), the guest went to seek a comfortable bed in the town environs. Brisco and Bowler stayed behind, with Comet tied up nearby.

Kelly continued to muse on the appeal of the scenario. Many guests liked to feel like they were the centre of the world by commanding romantic interest; the Orb Scholar allowed guests to feel as though they were disrupting hosts' worldviews, opening their eyes to a world weirder than the one they knew. It was always a temptation to walk up to a host and tell them _You're not real_ \- Kelly thought that the Orb Scholar role allowed indulgence of the same impulse.

The guest's behavior, and distance from the scene, indicated that Kelly had the all-clear to summon technicians to Brisco and Bowler and bring Brisco, at least, back to the lab for repair. He lingered a bit, caught up in the world where Brisco and Bowler were talking in low, relaxed tones, getting to know each other. The words would have been painfully boring in their repetition, were it not for the teasing tone that spoke of comfort and ease. It was a nice way to pass the shift; Kelly thought he could justify letting it go on, at least until the guest's vital signs indicated sleep.

He did take his job seriously, after all. He had suspicions others detailed to this setting didn't. Comet had refused to gallop into an ambush yesterday - and Kelly was pretty sure he knew why. It wasn't just that the horse's intelligence was set far too high: he suspected the technicians, or at least one of them, was lax in re-setting Comet's memories. After all, no one was going to pay too much attention to what a horse remembered... Or so they probably thought. Kelly disagreed. But until he knew who was doing it, there wasn't any point in bringing it up - either for a trade of favours, or to get it fixed.

Brisco and Bowler were lying down to sleep, now, back to back, sharing body heat.

Kelly triggered the commands that would send them into a much deeper sleep.


End file.
